As a material for mesh fabrics for screen printing, silk, stainless steel, nylon, polyester and composite fibers have been conventionally used. However, because silk has problems in strength and dimensional stability, and stainless steel has problems in elastic recovery properties, these are replaced by ones made of polyester and nylon. Particularly, mesh fabric made of polyester is being frequently used from the standpoint of dimensional stability.
However, since these screens made of synthetic fibers generate static charge by friction, etc. attraction and adsorption dust may occur. The static charge may also cause ceasing of ink during printing, making precise printing impossible. Thus, a screen having been subjected to an anti-static treatment (Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No.6-1089) is being used, and in super precise printing, a stainless steel printing plate and a combination printing plate comprising stainless steel attached to a synthetic fiber screen plate are being used.
A metallic plate made by an electrocasting method was used instead of stainless steel for the combination plate. However, because clogging often occurs in the metallic plate made by the electrocasting method, and a large article of 1 m or larger cannot be produced, its production has been terminated.
In order to replace it, a regitide plate, in which stainless steel is spread and plating is conducted for the stainless steel plate, is used in a certain part, but it is very expensive since a large sized stainless steel plate is plated, and the production efficiency of the plate is poor.
On the other hand, as a screen mesh for textile printing, a cylindrical screen mesh (cylinder) is produced by conducting a plating method, multi-layer plating and double-side plating on a form (mother roll) to form the cylinder, as the screen textile printing of rotary type is conducted to achieve high speed textile printing. However, it is required for a long period of time to reach a certain thickness, and the production process is complicated and very expensive.
Furthermore, there are a shadow mask and an electromagnetic wave shielding material obtained by subjecting metal fabric to metal vapor deposition and coating with a black urethane, those obtained by conducting electroless vapor deposition and electrolytic plating of carbon, and those obtained by the combination of these methods. However, because the screen as a support is fabric, the point of intersection is protruded, and the cross is liable to swerve. When the thickness of the plating part is thickened to prevent swerving of the cross, the opening of the cross becomes narrow, which is not suitable for the usage of a shadow mask.
Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 4-136232 discloses mesh fabric for a screen produced by using a core-sheath composite filament using a sheath comprising a component having a lower melting point than a core, in which the point of intersection of the warp and the woof is fixed in the state that the core threads are adhered, and the surface of the warp and the woof are uniformly covered with the sheath component throughout the fabric. However, while the fabric is easy to be handled since the mesh is stably maintained, it is not considered to be formed into a screen for the screen textile printing of rotary type by weaving into a cylindrical sack form.
It is also not considered that the conventional two steps of vapor deposition of carbon and coating of black urethane can be integrated into one step by conducting black chromium plating, and the thickness of the plating can be reduced since the point of intersection is flat.
For example, it is proposed that plating is conducted on mesh fabric, but it is difficult to conduct plating without applying tension on the mesh fabric. Furthermore, since cracks are formed at the part of the point of intersection on putting up on a frame, it cannot be used for screen printing, and thus plating is conducted after putting up on a frame.
In the combination production process of a screen printing plate using an electrocasting screen mesh, the production cannot be conducted at low cost since the electrocasting mesh itself is expensive. Furthermore, since the electrocasting screen mesh is in the course of development, it is not currently available for screen printing.
Examined Published Japanese Patent Application No. 51-20630 discloses a production process of a rotary screen by weaving into a sack. However, swerving of the intersection points of the mesh occurs in a coarse mesh because the point of intersection is not fused. Because the point of intersection is not flat and the material fabric is poor in stiffness, the thickness of the plating must be increased to make the production difficult. Further, clogging occurs by scratching of the thread and feather-like dusts, and thus it cannot be subjected to practical use.
The object of the invention is to provide a screen-formed plated article comprising mesh cloth, which does not bring about clogging and has uniform openings throughout the surface, and the screen-formed plated article can be stably used as a printing screen and a cylinder for rotary printing and is also useful as an electromagnetic wave shielding material and a shadow mask.